


The Becoming Before the Storm

by FrostyLee



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: M/M, Memory Palace, Talking Animals, accidental self entrapment, walking through the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 12:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10921734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostyLee/pseuds/FrostyLee
Summary: Will shares a memory palace with Hannibal for a moment of clarity into his past.





	The Becoming Before the Storm

The man turned firefly glistened and sparkled in the moonlight. Will made sure to keep this particular memory in his mind. Maybe he'd share it with Hannibal, maybe not. It would be something worth keeping. A stepping stone in their dance of longing and loving, gifting and receiving.

However they decided to put it, they knew the exact meaning behind Will’s design. Hannibal would most likely appreciate the art and tell him how magnificent it was. Softness would become his tone with regret coloring it as he wouldn’t have witnessed the making of the stained glass wings. Burgundy eyes would water, their tears reflecting the varying colors of the glass as they rolled down angled cheeks. A broken teacup that was once whole would again come together more beautiful than it had been.

Will shook himself out of his thoughts only to find himself trapped inside his head, the memory palace being a comfort in this trying time. Ghosts and the puzzle of Hannibal’s past left the empath questioning if visiting the Lecter castle had been the right choice in this journey.

A few unexpected passengers found themselves taking the trip with him. He counted three fireflies buzzing around his head and four slugs sliding across his body.

“Where will you go, darling boy,” one of the the fireflies asked, staying close to his left shoulder. “One of his first memories?”

“No, too simple. We shall send him to Mischa.” Another firefly interjected as he crawled through Will's untamed curls.

A slug protested loudly from his left knee. “No one is to know about Mischa other than the ones who have known about her first.”

“Wrong.” Someone spoke from the shadows of a now open doorway that had been closed off. “Will Graham is to know about everything. Hannibal has allowed this man to see him as all he is and will become.”

A light flipped on in the doorway, bright enough so their silhouette accentuated in shadow. “This is Will Graham’s becoming.”

The room spun as Will tried to get a look at the unidentified person. Judging by the voice, a woman. Judging by the tone, someone who knew Hannibal well. Judging by the flow of the clothing, someone from Hannibal’s past that Will would most likely know after this revelation, which would be after he escaped and found Hannibal again.

“You’ve met Chiyoh and learned from her. Now it’s time you’ve learned about me from the fireflies and slugs. Let them be your guide, Will Graham. They will teach you and help you to better understand yourself and the one you seek.” The woman drew closer as he blacked out.

_A visitor from the outside would find this memory to be quite revealing. Night had settled around the manor. Silence fell as the few servants and the family all went down into their rooms for sleep. With the quiet came dangers, dangers that often proved to be wounding or even fatal._

_Will found himself waking as he was being taken from his bed. Instantly, he felt scared and started to struggle. He slipped out of the man’s hold to run towards Mischa’s room through a secret passage that only he could fit through since he was small enough._

_“Mischa!” There was no one in the room as he went up to her bed quickly and quietly. He nudged her and put a hand over her mouth quickly, trying to make it clear that she needed to stay silent. Gesturing that there were strange men in their home, he got her out of bed and went back through the passage, going a different way than before._

_“Hannibal, where are we going?” She asked as she rubbed her eyes with her small hands. Only then did Will realize that this was Hannibal when he was still but a child._

_“We’re going to get Mother and Father. Then we are going to leave without those men finding us. I just need you to be very quiet while we move around. They have weapons. They will not hesitate to put us down if they discover us and we do not cooperate, Mischa. Do not give them that chance.” Will replied as they tiptoed to where their parents were._

_The man in a boy’s body held his sister’s hand tightly as to keep track of her. He didn't want the the intruders to find them and know exactly where they were. That in itself was just asking for trouble neither Mischa nor himself could get out of with how young they both were._

_They made their way to their parents room but the by the time they arrived, Will could tell the two were unmoving. Both their faces paler than snow._

_Mother and Father were dead._

_“Close your eyes, Mischa.”_

_“Hanni?”_

_“Close your eyes.”_

_“Why, Hanni?”_

_“Because we’re going_ to play a game.”

Will opened his eyes to see he was lying in the bed at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. The realization came to the empath that he was still in his memory palace, but in two different rooms at once. He was walking through his memory at the same time he lived through Hannibal’s past.

“He’s back!” One of the slugs cried happily as she crawled up the beige bars of the cell that were no longer white from the building’s early days. The man had half a mind to reach his hand out for the slug to slide onto.

One of the fireflies started to buzz around his head again. “Darling boy.”

Another firefly crawled along his cheek, the feeling reminded him of a soft caress. Will leaned his head a little more into it. The feeling reminding him of Hannibal cupping his cheek before giving him the smile on his stomach.

“How much more is there to show me?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Only a few more things. You need to know what happened in full.” Mischa, Will figured out, said. “Now that you know the beginning, you need the end. Remember though, it is not a happy one.”

The sound of hooves on the concrete of the BSHCI floor echoed down the hallway. It reminded him of when he thought he was losing his mind as it was burning.

“Mischa. _You can open your eyes again, sister.”_

_The abrupt change of scenery disoriented him as he was thrown, once again, into Hannibal’s past before his sister died. When he looked back, he saw she did what was asked of her after he saw the tear stains on her round cheeks. He pulled her to him in a tight hug. Will wished she had never had to experience the horror of what was happening. There was no choice however._

_Only one option was left for them, and that was to keep moving forward. Echoes of hooves followed him from the memory palace to Hannibal’s past._

_What was going on?_

_The sound of hooves got closer when suddenly a man appeared in their way for the front door to the house._

_“Hannibal!” Mischa screamed._

_“Run, Mischa! Make a run for it!”_

_They bounded towards the back door in the kitchen, one of the two other possible exits. Will wasn't thinking, all he wanted was to get Mischa away from these people to safety._

_Without realizing, Mischa tripped over a turned up rug before Will came back for her. The man was upon them and had one of their arms in each of his hands, threatening to break their wrists._

_“Quiet! Both of you!” The masked man snarled while dragging the siblings back to the front door. “We'll figure out what to do with you two.” A wolfish smile appeared on his face._

_“Don't touc_ h her!” Will sat up abruptly, only he had actually been doing so. Once more, the empath was back in his own memory palace. He sat on the cold ground holding his stomach to try to stem the blood flow; keeping his organs in was another high priority. Abigail lay dead next to him. As he studied her face, the man noticed it was frozen in terrified awe and acceptance. She had known she would die. Abigail was afraid of death but accepted it nonetheless. Unlike Will himself, who had been too stubborn to let go.

“There you are.” Said the same firefly who buzzed around his head.

One of the slugs slid her way onto his hand. “There's one more you must see, Will. Only one.”

“The boy has had enough. Leave him be.” Another slug spoke on his shoulder. “He will see it soon enough.”

A firefly cried but knew what the slug had said would not be obeyed. “Mischa will show him either way. All we can do is watch and wait.” She settled in his hair. The empath could hear her tears.

In a split second, Will saw Mischa laying in Abigail’s place and his heart stopped. It was not her throat that was sliced open. Her body, because he knew her to be dead, was missing pieces. The empath turned his head to the side and threw up, not an ear this time, but a finger. Stormy eyes saw the slugs and fireflies. None of them said a word as they looked upon the little girl who became Will’s _sister. Tears poured down his cheeks. He held his stomach as he threw up even more. Whatever had been fed to him in the last day was had been his sister._

_“Get over it. Not like we could find anything else in the house to cook after being here for nearly a week.” One of the five men spoke, with a deep voice and a beard as long as his chest._

_Another laughed. Gravelly pitched, smoker, with two different colored eyes. “All you two were doing was taking up room. Besides, she was too young. We can still fetch a hefty price for you, boy.”_

_“Not like we can just let you go now that you've seen our faces. Sorry, lad.” Will knew he really wasn't sorry. The man’s accent was as bad as the messy bun atop his head._

_“Come now, finish eating and rest up. We've a long journey ahead.”_

_The men finally decided to leave after pillaging the whole castle of goods they had found worthy. If Will weren’t still feeling so nauseated, he'd have snarled and spat at them._

_The man sitting closest to the boy was sharpening his blade. It seemed he didn't talk much but that was alright. Will would still remember the glasgow smile upon his face. A deep wound to cause a deep scar but something to remember the man by._

_Another hour came and went before the men dropped off one by one except Messy Bun. He drew the short end of the stick and was first to keep watch as he kept an eye on Will._

_Will just waited for the man to doze off. That's when he pounced. Immediately, the child picked up a dagger from next to Smoker and struck him in the throat. The blood ran down the man’s neck as his eyes popped open. Will had his hand over the man’s mouth, shushing him gently, like he'd do with Mischa most nights, until she would fall asleep._

_“Come morning, none of you will_ be with the living.”

“And they weren't. Hannibal avenged my death, but the man with the long beard had gotten away. My brother thought he had failed me and swore he'd find the last man and bring him to justice.” Mischa leaned against the gate of the Lecter castle. “Only when Hannibal had been in Italy for the first time is when he found Long Beard.”

Will could see it happening:

_Hannibal was enjoying a walk through the streets; Florence coming to be one of his favorite places. A scent caught him off guard; one he remembered from when he was but a child. He looked up and those burgundy eyes turned to an almost eerie red as they met the last of his sister’s killers’ eyes._

_Long Beard ran._

_Hannibal calmly walked; the streets all the more familiar to him. He still enjoyed the sights but his mind and body were on a mission._

_Scent is what did the man in._

_Before long, Hannibal caught the savage and managed to contact Chiyoh. She told him they would meet and the man would pay for what he did to Mischa. He would pay for a very long time._

Will blinked and the image was gone.

“Now you know,” The blurry figure of Mischa stood over him in the catacombs of Florence; the same catacombs in which he forgave Hannibal. The fireflies and slugs had gone silent. “Why Hannibal is the way he is.”

“Those men…”

“Yes.”

Will knew it to be true, only he didn't want to admit it. After Hannibal had killed the men and, after Long Beard had gotten away, he had eaten them. Similar to how they had fed Mischa to him. Past actions had made Hannibal but Hannibal wasn't what his past made him. The cannibal had transcended that.

Mischa touched his cheek gently. “What will you do now?”

“Find Hannibal.” Will answered before she had even finished her question.

Mischa nodded. Her smile was bittersweet, as if she knew what would happen once he found her brother again. 

“Then find him. And do with him what you feel is right.” 

She put a hand to his chest above where his heart was.

Will covered her hand with his own. 

“Mischa.”

The girl's blurry figure transformed into Chiyoh’s as she stared at him blankly.

“Will.”

Will stood before brushing himself off. He looked around, and it took a second for him to understand that he had been lying prone in front of the firefly man. He was no longer in Italy. Long Beard was at long last dead. 

Wouldn't Hannibal be pleased? 

He shook his head, and started walking to leave the castle behind. The time had arrived to move forward.

\----

Three years had passed them by and it wasn't until Hannibal had threatened Molly and Walter with Dolarhyde that Will finally got the the message.

It was Hannibal, or no one at all.

Will had known that fact. Always known. Seeing Hannibal almost get killed had awoken something within him that had laid dormant for the time Hannibal had been locked away.

The gunshot to Hannibal’s side had him reeling. Smelling the blood in the air brought out the darkness in him. It made him fight for the cannibal. It made him fight for the lives of the families remaining that had escaped the wrath of the Dragon. It made him fight for what he believed was right.

Getting rid of the Dragon was right; what was just.

Even if he couldn't save himself, he could save them. He could save Hannibal. They all deserved that much.  
Will knew Hannibal didn't care about other people’s lives, he only cared about Will’s life. He had made that clear from the early stages of their relationship, in his office. 

Hannibal would make sure they both got out alive, however, no matter how indifferent Will was about his own.

That was Hannibal Lecter’s design.

Either way, the present was all that mattered now. He and Hannibal would not die tonight. He and Hannibal were one. Conjoined. After all they had lost and all they had regained, their histories and the freshly spilt blood had shown them both how this would end. Will knew.

This would be Will Graham’s becoming.

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for Radiance~ I'm proud of it though! Kudos and comments are always welcome! With the help of [Rachel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyRacoon/) for giving me the idea and [Candice](http://archiveofourown.org/users/feveredsweetness/) for helping me edit!! :')
> 
> Always a pleasure writing!
> 
> *[main twitter](https://twitter.com/FrostyLeeGraham)* *[writing twitter](https://twitter.com/ValorFallon)* *[tumblr](https://frostyleegraham.tumblr.com/)*


End file.
